Tank silicone starting to give way AGAIN.

**loupgarou** · 14th Dec 2005, 09:10

I noticed the base of my left glass panel is starting to slip out by 3mm from where it should be flush...

no leaks yet but why does this have to keep happening to me.. anyone knows whether its feasible to redo the silicone work at all? or do tank makers not do that? main reason is the front panel is starphire glass. don't want to spend again..
tank is only 1year old

**bossteck** · 14th Dec 2005, 11:00

Read this excellent article. http://www.aquamaniacs.net/forum/cms...le.php?aid=107

I resealed my 5x1.6x1.8 tank 3 months ago, it's still holding up.

Most tank makers do not do repairs, those that do will charge a very high price, think about it, they will charge you at least $30 for transport, $80-100 for repair, $30 for transport back.. in the end, you can get a new tank liao. I was quoted $60 + $100 + $60 for that tank.

In the end, I spent $15 on 5 tubes of silicon, $3.50 on the chaulking gun and did it myself.

**loupgarou** · 14th Dec 2005, 11:18

yeah. but my tank cost me close to $1200. its a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft.. I don't think I can silicone such a thing myself.

**bossteck** · 14th Dec 2005, 12:02

Hi,

PM'ed you the details of the shop i contacted for tank repair.

You might want to get them to add additional cross braces at the the left and right bottom portion of the tank while they are doing the repairs. Unslightly, but you can cover it up with gravel.

Meanwhile, you should lower the water level in your tank ASAP, just in case.

Hope your headache goes away soon!!

**ranmasatome** · 14th Dec 2005, 14:55

Originally Posted by loupgarou

I noticed the base of my left glass panel is starting to slip out by 3mm from where it should be flush...

no leaks yet but why does this have to keep happening to me.. anyone knows whether its feasible to redo the silicone work at all? or do tank makers not do that? main reason is the front panel is starphire glass. don't want to spend again..
tank is only 1year old

Dewd...care to tell me who the tank maker was??? i'm making a tank.

Also...lower the water asap... dont want another burst tank like terence..
good luck!!

**armani** · 15th Dec 2005, 10:24

yeah bro... 5x2x2 hold LOTS of water... better safe bro... if possible take out everything in the tank n just resilicon the side (whole line between the 2 glass panels) where the silicon is coming out...

**BFG** · 15th Dec 2005, 22:11

You can't add silicone on top of another silicone. What you need to do is to remove the old silicone, realign the glass panel and then re-silicone it back. It is better to take off all the tank silicone and re-assemble all the glass panel back. That is why some tank maker do not do re-silicone of tank.

**loupgarou** · 15th Dec 2005, 23:00

ok: its slippage by 1.5mm...

**armani** · 15th Dec 2005, 23:05

Originally Posted by BFG

You can't add silicone on top of another silicone. What you need to do is to remove the old silicone, realign the glass panel and then re-silicone it back. It is better to take off all the tank silicone and re-assemble all the glass panel back. That is why some tank maker do not do re-silicone of tank.

yes... i meant remove the silicon from that side alone n re-silicon... will it work?

**loupgarou** · 15th Dec 2005, 23:21

it needs to be done professionally, at 5ft x 2ft x 2ft x 12mm glass the thing weighs a ton.

**BFG** · 15th Dec 2005, 23:41

It may work but over the time, the problem may re-surface again due to improper application of silicone or the problem may crop up from the other glass panel that wasn't affected earlier. If you just remove a panel, you are forcing the other 3 glass panel silicone to hold together the remaining load. This could cause the silicone to stretch while waiting for the other glass panel to be resealed. It would be practical to remove all of the tank silicone and redoing it again.

**bossteck** · 16th Dec 2005, 09:07

Once the pressure in the tank has been released, by removing everything in the tank, the glass will tend to move back into the flushed position, my experience is that at this stage, removing the silicon on the side of the tank with problem would not put any excess load on the silicon on the other 3 sides, since the glass panel will be resting on the base of the tank nicely and there will only be downward pressure and no lateral pressure.

But, my concern is that if only the silicon on the problem side is removed, and resiliconed, the area where the new silicon meets the old one may be poorly joint. When I repaired my tank last time, my first attempt was juz to redo the silicon on the side which had problems, it didn't work, when fully loaded, the tank began leak. So in the end, I removed all the old silicon, at the base as well as at the sides, and resilicon the entire tank in one go, used up 3.5 tubes of silicon.

Bro loupgarou, I think, given your tank's size, it would be rather difficult to do the silicon work, best to leave it to the professionals, and as I suggested, get them to add cross braces at the base of the tank on either end for added peace of mind. And it is safer to get the repair person to completely removed all old silicon and redo all the silicon work.

Last but no least, have plenty of patience and resist the urge to fill up the tank once you get it back. most shops do not have sufficient work space to let your tank sit around till it is fully cured, silicon takes ard 2 days to cure, but (ime) ard 2 weeks to be _fully_ cured, give it that amount of time.

Cheers.

**benny** · 17th Dec 2005, 17:10

It's a ticking time bomb. Don't risk it Chris. Get a the fella to do it once and for all or refund you. I can't imagine 5 X 2 X 2 ft of water in your living room.

Cheers,

**ranmasatome** · 18th Dec 2005, 02:41

you should have been there when it happened to me Benny..

**benny** · 18th Dec 2005, 02:44

Originally Posted by ranmasatome

you should have been there when it happened to me Benny..

I can imagine how excited your dogs must have been. Especially when it's directly above his "home"!!

Cheers,

**loupgarou** · 19th Dec 2005, 16:43

my shitty experience documented. I can't get him to replace, even if i do, no guarantee i'll get back the tank.

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/inde...opic=19492&hl=

--
I'll monitor to see if the thing increases anymore, after all, at 12mm class, only 1.5mm protruding, still ok,

**solonavi** · 19th Dec 2005, 17:07

I hope your tank maker is not the same davidsws in Arofantic?

JC

**XnSdVd** · 11th Jan 2006, 09:54

-raises hand- i have silicone experience! ok, it was experience with a 1x3x1ft fountain but i know enough to say that you CANNOT re-seal one panel without the risk(and it probably will) of the other 2 beside it leaking.

Secondly it's not that hard, probably very messy and time consuming but the actual work is quite simple. Oh, and here's a tip: SUPERGLUE! it's thin enough to fill up all the small gaps that the silicone might not get into. Apply a continuous layer all around the tank and let it dry before applying the silicone.

Once again, this works for a fountain that wasn't meant for fish. I'm not sure if the superglue would have any harmful effects on the plant or animal life of your tank.

Then again, you could always pay bossteck $50 to do it for you

**bossteck** · 11th Jan 2006, 10:38

Originally Posted by XnSdVd

Then again, you could always pay bossteck $50 to do it for you

Haha, thanks for the recommendation, but my silicon kungfu not good enough, in the end, maybe can reseal, but it will look ugly.

So, loupgarou, how's your tank now? Is it still holding up at 1.5mm?

**XnSdVd** · 11th Jan 2006, 10:45

You could try to force it back in then try to reinforce it somehow... external bracing?

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